Semiconductor devices are generally fabricated on substrates using different machines, including an electroplating processor that plates layers of conductive materials onto a work piece, such as a semiconductor wafer or substrate. Existing electroplating processors use a contact ring having contact fingers that make electrical connections to the surface of the substrate. A shield can be used to partially overly the contact fingers to change the electric field around the outer edge of the workpiece and contact fingers to reduce or eliminate non-uniform plating problems. Manual inspections can be performed to visually check a gap between the contact finger height and a reference. The inspection is performed outside of the equipment after the ring assembly is removed. A dynamometer can be manually applied individually to each contact finger, which is a time consuming process.
Plating defects are mainly caused by sealing and contact finger problems. To date, there has been no reliable or accurate method for early detection of these root causes of plating defects. A need therefore exists for methodology and a device enabling early detection of sealing and contact finger problems on plating ring assemblies.